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[dragonlady7]

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depsidase https://depsidase.tumblr.com/post/688992709193728000:

[image description: A screenshot of a website. OP says “Murphy’s Law states that the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer. What are some examples where you applied this law?” and underneath is an answer: “This is Cunningham’s Law and not Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law is ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’”]

ok but like this is actually good advice for if you have a question you can’t find anyone to answer.

like, the example is just trolling, but– it is so much easier for an expert who is not an educator to know what to explain to you, if you have begun to try to understand the thing, and instead of saying “I don’t know anything about Foo, can you explain it?” you come to them and say “I don’t want to bother you, but I’ve been reading everything I can about Foo, and I got the basic bit where you argle to start with, but it’s then supposed to be simple to bargle, somehow, and i just can’t get it to do it. Do you have any advice for me?” And then this is the crucial bit, you listen to their answer, you shut up and listen.

A lot of people who are experts are not educators. It’s a whole different skill-set. And a lot of people are idly interested in things, and are only too happy to waste the time of experts picking their brains to find out if it’s something worth being interested in (which carries a bonus very annoying connotation of I could be better at you than this if I tried, that really can grate.)

If there’s a thing you want to know about, the way to have a good interaction with a real expert is to do just enough research to ask a question that shows you’re invested. And then listen. (Your picture was not posted)